Wilshere relishing scrap for places

02 October 2013 05:16

England midfielder Jack Wilshere believes the new competition for places at the heart of the Arsenal side following the club-record signing of Mesut Ozil can only make him a better player.

Wilshere started on the bench against Napoli on Tuesday night when Germany international Ozil scored his first Arsenal goal with a sublime side-foot finish and then set up Olivier Giroud to make it 2-0 inside 15 minutes and effectively kill off the Champions League Group F tie as Rafa Benitez's men never looked like mounting a recovery.

With Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla all still to come back into contention from injury, manager Arsene Wenger is certainly not short of choice in midfield, where Wales international Aaron Ramsey is relishing his own run in the side.

Wilshere, though, sees no reason to view competitions for places as anything other than a positive as the 21-year-old looks to press on in a campaign which he hopes will culminate in playing for England at the World Cup in Brazil.

"It was just a formation thing. I am feeling fine, (Tomas) Rosicky is coming back from injury and needed a game," he said of his place on the bench.

"I have played a lot of games recently, so I was just happy to get on and help at the end.

"We still have Santi Cazorla to come back, so we are going to have a great squad."

Wilshere continued: "When I (first) broke into the team, it was similar - there was (Cesc) Fabregas, (Abou) Diaby, (Alex) Song, players like that.

"It brings the best out of me and it will bring the best out of the other players as well.

"If we can keep everyone fit, we are going to be real contenders in all four competitions.